Trust the IT friend in your group to have a gadget that records video on a mountain bike ride. However, while we all teased him about it, we all secretly thought it was pretty cool.
I have mentioned riding in Jonkershoek many times before but this valley provides endless opportunities of paths, for all levels of fitness and adrenalin junkies.
On this particular spring ride we started off at a causal pace and decided to try out the routes on the mountain on the right hand side of the valley. We climbed a small hill (although for the unfit, like me, it might seem rather steep) and entered the pine forests. Instead of continuing along the contour and coming down the mountain deeper into the valley, we found a single track. No doubt, the temptation was too much and down we slid, meandering through the pine, turning the corners and impelling ourselves to release the brake and just go flying through the trees.
We popped out of the forest and continued through the fynbos. I thought the single track had come to an end and my heart sunk a little as I thought it was too short but Jonkershoek knows better and back into the forest we were led for round two.
Back on the circular route, we thought we’d give our legs a stretch and cycled along the path, round the river and back towards the main gate. Just after a river crossing we headed back up into the mountain in search of new paths and boy did Neil find a new one. Only afterwards did we find out it is actually called Heartbreak Hill. Needless to say, I once again practised my bike pushing technique accompanied by Richard.
However, it was definitely worth the “heartbreaking” as the views were spectacular and the single track we found down through the pine forest was even more thrilling.
There are moments where fear makes you jump off your bike and carefully tread down the slope alongside your wheels. Then there are times where you feel daring enough to try the vertical paths curving down through the trees and then there are times where you have been too daring and find yourself on the forest floor with your bike on top of you, with the biggest smile on your face, like Donovan.
On this note, I leave you with a video clip, courtesy of Donovan (our IT friend) of our casual ride, mixed in with a strenuous work out and spiced up with some exhilarating action in Jonkershoek.
Exclusive Video Footage: http://vimeo.com/29649629
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